By Albatross
August 4 2004

With the start of the season just a couple of days away, Hartlepool United have taken a player on trial. Kevin Betsy is the man - like his former team-mate Chris Lumsdon he's been told he can leave Barnsley. So what do we know about Betsy?

He played against us twice last season, with varying amounts of success. On Boxing Day he netted twice and looked a class act - outpacing Westie for one goal, looking sharp, clinical and full of confidence. It was a different story a couple of months later, as he had an ineffective game against us in the game that we drew 2-2.

Born in the Seychelles - his father captained their National team back in the 70s - he first came to prominence at Woking, filling the right wing-back slot and earning caps for the England Semi-pro side in that position. He did well enough to persuade Fulham to pay out £85,000 for him - and his attacking flair was enough to persuade Kevin Keegan to decide he should be converted to a striker.

He failed to make a big breakthrough though, making just a handful of first team starts before heading out on loan to Bournemouth, Hull, and then Barnsley - who were impressed enough to fork out £200K for him after that loan spell. He scored six goals the following season, and then eleven last year - but the departure of Gudjon Thordarson and appointment of Paul Hart radically changed things. Betsy struggled, and Hart fell out with him big time - as with Chris Lumsdon, he was told he wasn't wanted, not given a squad number, and made to train with the youth team.

At just over 6', Betsy offers some aerial threat - and his skills on the ground could certainly fit in well with our style of play. Add in the versatility of being able to play on the right wing as well as up front, and he looks in many ways an ideal signing.

That's for Cooper to decide though, and much will depend on how he does during this trial period. He obviously had problems with Hart, and Cooper will no doubt want to make sure that he will fit in with the rest of the squad in the dressing-room as well as on the park. After a summer of virtually no transfer activity involving Pools though, we're all going to seize on this - can Betsy be the missing piece in the Pools Jigsaw Puzzle?